Why “Just Hire More People” Isn’t the Right Answer for Us

If you’ve tried to book with us, especially as a new client, you may have noticed that our schedule fills up extremely quickly. We often hear well-meaning suggestions from clients or community members about how we could open up more spots. The most common suggestion is “Why not just hire more people?”

We want to take a moment to explain why it’s not that simple, and why we actually see the demand we have as an opportunity to grow the right way, not just the fast way.

We’ve Grown - Just Not at the Expense of Quality

We are growing and have continued to grow for the last 6 years. We've added team members, purchase a plot of land with a much bigger shop-space, and made countless behind-the-scenes improvements to help increase the number of vehicles we can care for while maintaining our reputation. But there is a big difference between quickly hiring a bunch of people in order to accommodate more appointments and strategically expanding a business that plans to be around for a long, LONG time.

The people who work on your vehicle at GreenTree are not just filling a shift. They are trained, trusted, and invested in what they do. We do not rush the training process or just decide to put someone in charge of a high-end coating job before they're fully ready. That takes time, and we believe it's worth it.

Faster Isn’t Always Better

In our industry, it's easy to create the illusion of speed by cutting corners, stacking jobs back to back, skipping prep steps, or sending less-experienced staff to tackle complex tasks. But if you have brought your car to us before, you know that's not how we operate.

We believe every vehicle deserves the same high standard of care, whether it's a full correction & coating or a simple hand wash. The level of consistency we've maintained for the last 6 years just does not happen when you grow too quickly or compromise on quality to appease the few people who shame us for how busy we are.

We Still Fill Up Fast and That’s Okay

Even with more staff and better systems, our calendar stills fills up quickly. We often sell-out an entire month's schedule within 24 hours of opening it. That's the reality of being a small, service-focused company that puts quality and passion above volume and money. We don't rush through work to make room for more bookings, and we are not going to sacrifice our reputation just to squeeze more vehicles in each week.

If you see that we're booked out, please know that it's not because we're ignoring the demand. It's because we are doing everything we can to meet that demand responsibly, with the long-term future of this company in-mind.

We Built Our Scheduling System Around This Philosophy

This is exactly why we open our appointment calendar one month at a time. It prevents us from booking five or six months in advance, like we used to. I mean, who wants to call us in June and be told that we can't get them in until December?! Not me! That used to be the reality, but four years ago we changed how we handle scheduling to fix this problem. Opening one month at a time also gives our team the flexibility to request time off and maintain a healthier work-life balance without needing to plan their time off six or seven months in advance.

We know it can be frustrating to hear “we’re fully booked this month,” but we truly believe it's better to say “try again in two weeks when we open up the next month's calendar” than to offer someone an appointment six months from now that they can't confidently commit to or may forget about (even with our appointment reminders).

We Want to Be Busy Within Our Means

Of course we want to be busy and want to serve as many customers as possible. But that must be balanced with doing the job right every time while maintaining a work environment where our team can perform at their best. That balance is what allows us to keep delivering the level of quality and service people have come to expect from GreenTree.

We’re Grateful for the Trust

At the end of the day, if people are willing to wait for our work, that tells us we are on the right path. We will keep doing everything we can to improve availability without compromising what makes GreenTree special.

If you’ve been trying to get in, thank you for your patience. We hope this helps explain a bit more about how and why we operate the way we do. Best Wishes,

GreenTree Auto Styling